HESA Committee Report

ANALYSIS OF IMPLEMENTATION

HEALTH INNOVATION AND RESEARCH

The health innovation and research commitment of the 2004 Accord applied exclusively to the federal government.  Overall, the Government of Canada has met its commitment through increased investments in innovative science, technology and research.

There have been significant regular investments by the federal government in health innovation since the 2004 Accord. Through funding for the direct and indirect costs of world-class research in priority areas, research capacity building, and state-of-the art infrastructure development, the government is ensuring that Canada’s science and technology (S&T) enterprise is well-equipped to contribute to a strengthened health care system (e.g., through innovative health products), improved health outcomes, and other socio-economic benefits for Canadians.

Assessment of Government of Canada Accomplishments

The Government of Canada has continued its investments to sustain activities in support of health innovation. According to Statistics Canada, in total, federal health S&T expenditures have increased nearly 17% since 2004 (from $1.25 billion in 2004-2005 to $1.46 billion in 2006-2007). Of this amount, $407 million was expended on intramural health S&T activities and $1.05 billion was for extramural health S&T activities. 

The Government’s intramural investments have supported research and development and related scientific activities (e.g., risk management, risk assessment, evaluation and surveillance), including in health, to address current and emerging challenges to Canadians. 

The Government has directed its extramural investments to four key areas: 

• direct costs of research investigator-driven and targeted priority initiatives) (Canadian Institutes of Health Research - CIHR, Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council - NSERC, and Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council - SSHRC).  Note that as a result of investments in Budgets 2006, 2007, and 2008, CIHR’s annual base budget is currently $820.1 million, a 17.5% increase from its $697.8 million annual budget in 2005/06;
• indirect costs of research (chiefly through Industry Canada’s $315 million per year Indirect Costs of Research Program which serves more than 140 post-secondary institutions across the country);
• people(through the federal granting councils and the Canada Research Chairs (CRC) Program.  The CRC Program invests $300 million a year to attract and retain among the world's most accomplished and promising minds. As of November 2007, the Program had awarded 1,851 Chairs).
• infrastructure (chiefly through the Canada Foundation for Innovation - CFI. The CFI normally funds up to 40% of a project’s infrastructure costs; the remainder is provided by provincial/territorial governments, and the private and voluntary sectors.  Since 1997, the CFI has invested $3.75 billion in infrastructure projects across Canada).

Detailed investments from Budgets 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008, can be found in Appendix A.

The Government of Canada’s investments have:

• enabled Canada’s universities, research hospitals and colleges to contribute to social and economic development across all regions of the country through undertaking research, development of research capacity, knowledge translation and commercialization;
• maintained and enhanced the international competitiveness of Canadian research institutions, and
• ensured that these institutions attract and retain the best researchers and students, and continue to build the capacity for innovation for improved health and other socio-economic benefits for Canadians. 

Future Work

A Federal Science and Technology (S&T) Strategy for Canada - Building Advantages for Canada

In recognition of the priority the government places on S&T and innovation as an enabler of  prosperity, competitiveness and improved health and quality of life for Canadians, on May 17, 2007, Prime Minister Harper released a federal S&T Strategy (Strategy), entitled, “Mobilizing Science and Technology to Canada’s Advantage”.

Setting out a comprehensive, multi-year S&T agenda for Canada, this Strategy seeks to foster three distinct Canadian S&T advantages:

The S&T initiatives announced in Budgets 2007 and 2008 demonstrate the government's commitment to take early action to achieve these goals for Canadians.

More Integrated Federal Research Programming

The Strategy also directs the three federal research granting councils (CIHR, NSERC, and SSHRC) to work together and with others in the science community to build a critical mass of expertise in priority areas, including health and life sciences.  Health research increasingly requires a collaborative effort and mechanisms that support the integration of activities across a broad spectrum of disciplines.  This multi-disciplinarity of research is well-recognized by the councils: elements of health research are pervasive in NSERC’s and SSHRC’s programs. 

Other key players in the federal science community are also working to further align their programs and initiatives with the S&T Strategy, including focusing on health and the Strategy’s other priority areas.  For example, the National Research Council (NRC), the federal government’s premier organization for R&D, has been investing approximately $60 million per year on health-related research since 2004 in infectious and aging diseases, cancer and diagnostics.  The NRC is also working to ensure that its institutes’ business plans are well-aligned with the NRC’s 2006 Science Strategy, entitled Science at Work for Canada, the objectives of which are well aligned with the federal Strategy.